SPRINGTIME Adds Another Artist To 100% FREE Festival Line-up

Just four weeks out from what is arguably the country's biggest, 100% free music festival kicking off, and triple j has officially spilled the beans on who the lucky artist is that will take centre stage during SPRINGTIME Festival this September 1-3 on the Gold Coast.

Announced on triple j during the Drive show this afternoon, Bridget Hustwaite officially crowned Gold Coast-based artist Beckah Amani as the winner of the triple j Unearthed x SPRINGTIME Festival competition, which has been running since mid-June and has seen the music team at triple j and triple j Unearthed scouring the coastline for the perfect act to join the bill.

Beckah Amani, who is the latest edition to the already stacked line-up, will perform alongside Skegss, Thelma Plum, Hermitude, Ninajarachi, Haiku Hands, Alex The Astronaut, JK-47, Teen Jesus & The Jean Teasers, South Summit, Teenage Dads, and heaps more.

“I’m so over the moon to be performing at springtime! So keen for the great music, good food and amazing sun on the coast," Amani said.

During her on-air chat with Hustwaite, Amani added, “I cannot wait to be there and celebrate,” also sharing that for the past few months she’s been keeping busy in the UK. “I’m so excited to come back home; I’ve been in the UK for a few months now. I’ve been writing and doing shows and just soaking in the UK Life."

Amani also alluded to new music and a new take on her live set, stating, “I’ve spent some time in the studio trying to craft a new sound. I’ve been experimenting with a new way forward for my EP. The live show is going to feel a bit different. I’m going to try new things and bring in new elements to take my live show to the next level. Hopefully create a great moment for people to dance and move!”

For the uninitiated who aren’t yet familiar with Beckah Armani, here’s a quick crash course; Born in Tanzania, she has spent a young lifetime gathering her stories. Moving to Australia at the age of eight, her life has been “a constant movement”; seven years in Western Australia, several in the countryside, a few apiece in the city and mountains. Through that movement her sense of identity wavered in ways that she has only been able to fully comprehend more recently - “there was always this confusion; who exactly am I, where do I belong, which culture is mine” - she said in a statement.

Amidst these potential uprootings, her family kept her steady. A musically enthusiastic household, her father was a church choir conductor, and her mother played guitar, frequently delving into the family collection of West African sounds. Amani’s older brother was instrumental in her early musical exposures, playing everything from Avril Lavigne to Queen and Nina Simone.

“He was always just like, why limit yourself?” she said. “And I have my sister; she's my best friend, and she's so blunt. It can be easy to go, ‘oh yeah, sounds good’ if everyone else is saying that. But she's always there like, great, but have you thought about trying this?”

Though Armani dabbled in releases while she began a university degree, it was the release of Standards that gave her true momentum. Written around the time of the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, Standards is not so much a song as it is a radical reclaiming of self, an expulsion of emotion that poured out initially as a poem. From personal microaggressions to a plea for wider humanity, it’s a feat of musicianship that doesn’t need to shout in order to make its point heard.

To date, Amani has released three singles so far in 2022; the joyous, spiritual blend of soul and indie pop that is Lebeka Leka, May’s I Don't Know Why I Don't Leave You which takes aim and pokes fun at the depiction of love on TV and an orchestral version of 2020’s hit single Standards.

Beckah Amani performs at SPRINGTIME Festival on the Gold Coast, September 01-03. Tickets however don’t go on sale for this event, because it’s 100% FREE!

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